The Fence

Chapter 62: Mercy

Raven suddenly lets out a laugh. Both sides, including ours, all stare at him. Minerva frowns, shifting in her saddle. "What is so funny?"

"Pain?" Raven splutters out. "How on earth could we have caused you pain? My father moved us to a city and basically gave you the rest of the United States! We've had no contact with you, nor have we tried to fight you in any way!"

"That's not what I mean!" Minerva hisses, her hands gripping the horn on her saddle tighter. "You made up all those rumors! Every time a new yukos is born, we have to explain to them why the humans hate us so much. We have to tell children that the humans hate us because they think we eat them!"

"You can't blame all of Gambos for those rumors," Raven murmurs. "I don't know who made those rumors up. I can tell you that our lower castes feel exactly how you do."

"How?" Minerva spits, her brown orbs narrowing.

"They are subjected to rumors that put them in a negative light. All of the castes below Caste 5 are savages! They kill to get whatever they want. They steal, they lie, and they cheat their way through life. They're dirty and ugly, and don't deserve to live in a city with more elegant, beautiful people. Is that how your people feel?"

Minerva's gaze softens, and she seems to think for a minute. "Yes..."

"The thing is, all these rumors go away once you actually meet people that are from lower castes. You realize that it's impossible to hate the people you've been taught to hate. You realize that...maybe they're no different from you..."

I glance at Raven's face. He's never looked so serious about something in his life. I've never heard him give a speech without holding notecards in front of his face. His blue eyes are sad, and a different emotion radiates off of him. I take Ky's hand, but I don't look at him. I feel his gaze snap down to my face, and I give his hand a squeeze. He lets out a very small sigh.

Raven continues talking. "When I was 21, and my father was still Chancellor, I had all those rumors fresh in my mind. I thought that yukos were as bad as the rumors said, yet for some reason, I don't think I ever believed it all. After a long day of meetings with my father, I was tired and I just wanted to sleep. Out of no where, a girl turns the corner and bumps into me. Her hand was covering her right eye, and I thought she hurt it. She tried to get away from me as fast as she could, but I stopped her.

"'Are you hurt?', I asked her. She said she was fine, just tired. Carefully, I pulled her hand away from her face. What I saw, I wasn't expecting. Overlapping her eye was a big, bright diamond. I realized that her makeup must have rubbed off, and that's why she was running. She didn't want anyone to see her. She didn't want to feel bad about being a yukos.

"I heard some yelling down the hall, and her eyes filled with panic. 'You're the Chancellor's son, aren't you?', she asked me. 'Please don't hurt me. Please don't tell.', she said. I nodded, and promised her I wouldn't tell. The yelling was getting closer, so I took her hand and told her to follow me. I didn't know why I decided to help her. She was a yukos, I knew that."

Minerva stares deeply at Raven, grasping on to every word. "Did you hurt her? Did you hate her because she was a yukos?"

"I knew I was supposed to," Raven replies. "She was so scared. She kept asking me to just let her go. She would never show up again. I took her to my room, thinking that was the safest place for her. 'No.', I said. 'I can't let you go now, or you'll get caught.' She asked me why I was helping her. I said it was because she did nothing wrong. I learned her name was Mercy.

"She didn't want to leave my room after that, and I didn't make her. She said there were people who saw her diamond, people who would surely report her. She was terrified of what would happen to her, and every day I promised her that I would protect her. That was when I saw her smile for the first time.

"A few weeks passed, and she stopped wearing makeup to cover up her diamond. I didn't want her to have to pretend to be who she wasn't anymore. Her diamond was beautiful, and I didn't want her to cover it up. It seemed to glitter with red gems, and made her blue eyes shine even brighter. She smiled so much more after she finally let me see it. She trusted me, and I trusted her."

The whole field is silent, collecting every word Raven is saying. Where he is going with this, I think I know. I glance at Minerva, who looks like her whole guard has dropped.

"One day, I had an especially long meeting with my father. I went back to my room to check on her as soon as it was over. I still remember my heart stopping when she wasn't in my room. I looked every where for her. I could feel myself growing paler and paler the longer I couldn't find her. Finally, I found her out here. She was sitting with her legs dipped into the pond. I approached her slowly, calling her name. She turned around to look at me, another beautiful smile on her face. 'Sorry! Did I worry you? I just wanted to come outside and feel the sun on my skin.' I let out a sigh of relief, ran the rest of the way to her, and wrapped my arms around her. 'Thank god you're okay.', I said. It was at this moment that I realized I loved her." Raven's eyes had averted to the ground at some point in his story, but he looks up now. He is so sure of what he is about to say, it's like his eyes could melt right through Minerva. "I loved her with all my heart, my mind, my being. I didn't give a damn that she was a yukos. I loved that she was a yukos. And she loved me too. We were in love, and we didn't care about our differences. To each other, we were perfect."

Both sides are shocked, still, silent. Raven was in love with a yukos, and he didn't care. He loved that part of her, just as much as he loved everything else about her. Now even Minerva is lost for words.

"What happened to her?" Minerva murmurs.

"She-"

"Why does it even matter?!" a new, yet familiar voice exclaims. "Your little love story doesn't change the fact that there are still rumors about us!"

I feel every muscle in my body tense up. Ky flinches when my grip becomes too hard, and shakes his hand free from mine. He stares at me in concern.

"It matters because that's how things should be!" Raven cries. "I know my love story doesn't matter, at least not to you. It's the point of the story! Humans and yukos are capable of loving each other- of getting along!"

"It may be capable," the voice sneers. "But it doesn't get rid of the damage that's already been done. It doesn't get rid of the crying of children or the confusion of adults."

My head slowly turns to face the direction of the voice, rage pulsing through my veins. Grey also seems to recognize the voice, as I feel his eyes on me.

As soon as I see his tan skin, brown hair, green eyes, small frame, my vision flashes white. Suddenly the color is all I can see.

I screech his name, probably ruining any chance of peace we might have had.

The name? Nixon.